Where has Haji Abdus Sattar — better known across Sirajganj as “Balu Sattar” — gone? Once a household name in the district’s sand business and Awami League politics, the controversial sand trader has vanished from public view.
Yet, many locals claim his invisible hand still grips the multimillion-taka sand trade stretching across the Jamuna River.
An empire built on the Jamuna’s sands
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Allegations have surfaced that three influential figures within the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) turned the organisation into a hub of corruption and irregularities prior to the appointment of the current Chief Engineer (routine charge), Md. Anwar Hossain.
The trio — former Chief Engineer Abdur Rashid Mia, his close associate and then Sub-Assistant Engineer Moshiul Alam, and self-styled media consultant Abu Fattah — reportedly built a powerful network of influence within LGED under the patronage of the recently ousted Awami League government.
